News Archive

Change in land uses is one of the main factors contributing to deforestation and one of the main challenges facing Mesoamerica. Existing laws and regulations are in need of revision in order to ensure efficient and effective implementation by institutions and state agencies. This is one of the main conclusions of the book: Legalidad forestal en Mesoamérica (Forestry Law in Mesoamerica) published on June 30, 2015 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the IUCN Environmental Law Centre of the Environmental Law Programme. …

The IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) component of BRIDGE Africa is supporting IGAD to finalize its draft Protocol on Regional Water Resources and convened a second regional meeting on July 6th-8th 2015 in Naivasha, Kenya, attended by senior government officials who form the Technical Advisory Committee, members of IGAD on Water Resources, legal experts from the IGAD Member States as well as staff from the IGAD Secretariat that reviewed the IGAD draft Protocol on Water Resources. …

The last five decades have seen a proliferation of legal instruments related to the environment, ranging from treaties to national legislation to constitutional provisions to municipal regulations. Yet ecosystems and natural resources continue to decline at an alarming rate, while environmental challenges such as climate change and species loss accelerate. The expansive legal framework we have developed to ensure environmental sustainability is not meeting the ever-growing challenge. This raises questions of legal effectiveness. …

The ELC welcomed a new colleague to the legal team this month. Graduating in international law and international organisations from Paris I Sorbonne with a specialisation in international environmental law, Charline Gaudin is a French national with 10 years of environmental legal experience. …

World Conference Centre, Bonn. Applause erupted in the normally staid World Heritage Committee plenary with the announcement of the inscription of Jamaica's first World Heritage Site on Friday. Jamaica's Blue and John Crow Mountains site was added to the list of "mixed" cultural and natural sites, underlining the important connections between human culture and the natural environment. These connections lie at the heart of the World Heritage Convention, and in a sense underpin all human efforts to protect and conserve nature. …

On May 14-15, 2015, the 21st ECOLEX Steering Committee Meeting was hosted by FAO in Rome, Italy. Building on a tripartite partnership of nearly 14 years, FAO, IUCN and UNEP gained new momentum to elevate information management on environmental law through new plans and technical improvement for ECOLEX-the gateway to environmental law. …

On 27 February, ELC hosted a group of young professionals taking part in the prestigious Klaus Töpfer Fellowship organised by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. The Fellows are young conservation leaders from countries across Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. …

BRIDGE stands for ‘Building River Dialogue and Governance’ and is an IUCN project which has been implemented since 2011 in nine transboundary basins. Recently, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) supported the addition of five new river basins for BRIDGE work in Africa. …

On January 21-22, the IUCN Environmental Law Centre, together with the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO), and Tanzania country office, held a workshop in Mpanda District, Tanzania, to consult with stakeholders and launch a project on integrated planning in the Lake Tanganyika Basin. …

In November, over 6000 participants from more than 170 countries attended the World Parks Congress, in Sydney, Australia. This Congress takes place once every ten years, bringing together experts, practitioners, policymakers and stakeholders to shape the international policy agenda for protected areas for the next decade. …